A tool called TraceViewer records app usage and intranet browsing history

“In order to keep people happy, the North Korean government needs to show they are living a life of quality that is comparable to neighbouring countries.”

Early devices allowed some defectors to smuggle TV dramas from South Korea or elsewhere, but newer devices with tighter monitoring have made it more difficult to get access to foreign media, according to defectors.

An extremely small number of the North Korean elite have access to the external internet, according to Ms Moriuchi.

They are mainly researchers, government officials and party members whose jobs require information from the outside world.

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An extremely small number of North Korean elite have access to external internet

The elites gain access via a connection ultimately run by China Unicom, operational since 2010.

But, according to North Korea-focused blog 38 North, there is a second internet connection provided by a Russian state-owned company, TransTeleCom.

Pyongyang’s traditional tools of power, such as propaganda and ruling by terror, are beginning to diminish in effectiveness, former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho said.

But some experts said they doubt smartphones and online activity will do anything but strengthen the regime.

Head of intelligence research at Cybereason, a cybersecurity firm, and a former U.S. Department of Defence analyst, Ross Rustici, said: “As long as North Koreans primarily consume the propaganda from the state, I don’t see it having a short-term destabilising effect.”